The following is a brief description of these design feature and their impacts on healthcare outcomes. The rank order is based on the strength of existing evidence. Depending on the type of healthcare settings and specific project goals, different types of issues might gain priority and some of these elements might move off the list and others take their place.

According to Cooper, “patient satisfaction with medical environments is now mission-critical for US-based healthcare administrators. Research shows that most patients and their families judge the quality of clinical care received based on their perceptions of mostly non-clinical care environments. These perceptions determine where patients choose to go for services and whether they return. Patient-centered design, convenient access to services and the therapeutic hospitality the patient encounters not only improve patient care but have far-reaching marketing and financial impacts on the healthcare organization.”

What I wonder about this article though, is will this continue to affect US hospitals given the new public healthcare measures promoted by President Obama?

“Family Centered Care” is another article that I enjoyed because it considers that patients are part of a community.

In the family-centered care model, the patient and the family are recognized as the unit of care. A few years ago, families had restricted visiting hours, restricted access to certain inpatient units, and were not permitted to be present during life threatening situations. Today, families are encouraged to stay overnight with their loved one, participate in treatment plans, education and discharge preparation, and attend life threatening situations.

I particularly like the questions as the end of the article which could help with the visioning process.

This is just a small sampling of 13 articles on the site as of this post.

What I like about the site overall, is the references listed at the bottom of the articles. What I’d love to see is how EBD merges the three articles into one design, and maybe even a case study on it. But I’m curious, what other design options would you like to see considered in a hospital?